Daily archive for November 6, 2017

The wet weather this weekend caused problems with the 64th Dovedale Dash on Sunday. The race was postponed for an hour as runners attempted to drive through boggy conditions into the car park, with runners finding their warm up mixed with the odd pushing of vehicles out of the mud. 5 Leamington C&AC runners took part in the 4 ¾ mile event which sees runners racing down the steep slope of Thorpe Cloud in Derbyshire to cross the river at the famous “stepping stones”. Whilst some choose to balance across the stones, most runners choose the wetter option and run through the water. Phil Gould was first home for the club in 12th place in a time of 30:58. The race played to Gould’s strengths being particularly muddy with a one mile climb back up Thorpe Cloud to the finish. Gould’s son James, who just scraped the over 10 age restriction by a month, showed amazing resolve by finishing only 12 minutes after his dad in a time of 42:40. Mel Gould, who at 12 is already a seasoned cross country runner, showed her usual strength finishing in a time of 46:25 with her mum, Laura, settling for being last of the Gould family in a time of 51:13. Simon Perkin, who was a familiar face at this event, finished in a time of 38:56.

Saturday saw the second event of the Gloucester Cross Country League with 9 Leamington C&AC runners heading to Charlton Park. Paul Andrew ran a fine race, finishing 8th overall, in a time of 36:40. Marc Curtis (41:57); Steve Howes (42:54); Steve Roberts (48:52); Tony Foster (50:37) and Alex Montgomery (52:20) all raced. Jenny Jeeves showed her usual fine form in the ladies’ race, finishing 21st overall in a time of 30:14. New member Caroline Coward was the only other lady from the club who ran, finishing in 33:26. Graham Roberts ran the MV65 race and finished in a time of 36:31.

Chris Hitchman headed to New York to take part in the marathon this week finishing the race in 3:30:25

‘Now that’s what I call a stream crossing ? proper cross country running!!’ – Laura Gould from the Dovedale Dash

Gavin Fowler put the cycling and athletics side of the Leamington Cycling and Athletics Club on the map by competing in the Bedford Standard Duathlon on Sunday. Fowler completed the race, which consisted of a 10k run, a 39km bike ride finishing with a 5k run, in a time of 2:04:45 putting him in 30th position and qualifying him for the European Championships next year.

The Rugby half marathon saw 5 members of Leamington C&AC take on the challenging course at the weekend. Marc Curtis was first home for the club in 1:28:53 with Jenny Jeeves and Andrew Higgins battling it out in times of 1:36:11 and 1:36:12 respectfully. Jeeves was fifth lady overall and won her age category. Not far was new recruit Saffia Del Torre who finished 9th lady in a time of 1:40:47. Roger Fagge also ran, crossing the line in 1:49:34.

Elsewhere Carol Blower came 17th in the Holdenby Cross Country race in a time of 1 hour exactly. Blower won her age category.

There was also success for Andy Savery who completed the Frankfurt marathon in 2:27:24.